The One
by that girl65
Summary: Quinn never thought she'd be the one to break Rachel's heart. (Loosely based on 'Hello' by Adele)


Quinn always thought she'd be the one to break Rachel's heart.

Everyone told her so, anyways. When the Glee club found out that her and Rachel were a couple, it felt like it was a new person coming up to her everyday and telling her not to break Rachel's heart. It was like they were waiting for it. Even Mr. Schue had given her his two cents.

Quinn Fabray, the girl with a trail of broken hearts following her every where she went, how could she not break poor little Rachel Berry's heart?

Rachel was the girl who was young, innocent, trusting. The pretty girl with the voice of an angel. The big brown eyes that Quinn had fallen in love with that made everyone think that she would be the victim in the crime of heart breaking. No one had pulled Rachel aside and told her to be gentle with Quinn's fragile heart. A heart that had been broken and stomped on and carefully pieced back together by Quinn herself, no one else bothered to help. They saw her and just saw a girl who remained unaffected by the relationships that seemed to fall apart around her. She was the catalyst. They didn't see all the pain and hurt that was the fuel to her attempts at perfection or how her icy stare was a perfected defense against showing any vulnerability.

Rachel did. She saw it all.

Rachel was the one who broke down the walls she had spent years building. She made her vulnerable again.

Everyone's voices would ring in her ears, constantly telling her that she would break Rachel's heart. It was an echo that followed every action and carefully placed word. It felt like everyone was rooting against her, just waiting for her to slip and hurt Rachel. And in return, Quinn cradled Rachel's heart like it was the most precious thing in the world. She wouldn't be the one to break Rachel's heart like everyone thought. She would die before she let that happen.

No one ever worried about Quinn's heart. Not even herself. All the years of doing what she could to protect herself and her heart and it was gone, replaced with the need to keep Rachel's safe. So when Rachel left Quinn's heart shattered in a million pieces like it was nothing, no one was more shocked then Quinn herself. She never expected to be left behind in the tidal wave that was Rachel's career.

In college, Quinn had doted on Rachel the way she always did, even more so. She was in love. She was hopelessly and desperately in love with with small town girl with the big voice, as people had started to call her. Quinn hardly noticed when Rachel started calling her less, making less weekend trips to New Haven or making up reasons Quinn couldn't make the trip. Rachel was busy making her dreams a reality, Quinn had to respect that.

The day that Rachel called her, just as Quinn was about to catch a train to New York, was the day that everyone's expectations of Quinn were thrown for a loop. She didn't break Rachel Berry's heart, but Rachel sure broke hers.

Quinn tried to argue, but she couldn't. Rachel insisted that she needed to completely focus on her career and Quinn was left in the dust. Brushed off as nothing more then a distraction. She didn't think she'd ever recover. She was sent into a spiral of depression and self hate that she didn't think she'd ever escape from. What had she done wrong? That was the main question on people's lips.

But three novels of heartbreak later, she finally felt better. Alive and still breathing. She saw Rachel's face in the bi-annual alumni newsletter email that McKinley sent out announcing that she was starring in a Broadway musical and Quinn instantly deleted it. When Santana hesitantly told her about Rachel performing at the Tony's, she just nodded in a congratulations that would never be heard.

She sincerely hoped Rachel got everything that she had ever hoped and dreamed for. Quinn never wished ill on her in anyway, nor did she ever correct anyone when they asked her what she did wrong to lose Rachel. Quinn didn't know. She probably never would. If loving too much was a valid reason then that was probably it.

Years down the line, she would get calls from an unknown number in New York. She never answered. Sometimes when she looked at her kids, she wondered if Rachel thought about what their lives would have been like together like she did. She seemed happy, at least from what Quinn could tell from the television and newspaper interviews. She seemed happy. That's all she would ever know of Rachel anymore. The girl she had once shared her most intimate secrets with and knew every aspect of. She seemed…happy. Quinn hoped she was happy. Maybe the reason she was still single was because she didn't need anyone else, she didn't need a companion. Broadway, the stage, that was the only lover she needed. That's what Quinn told herself anyways.

One day, in a moment of weakness, she answered the unknown number. She held her breath, waiting for the voice she was sure waited on the other end.

"Hello?" came the familiar voice that Quinn couldn't forget even when she tried, "I-…Quinn…how are you?"

After they had first broken up, Quinn had a list of things she wanted to say to Rachel. About how much she loved her, that she would do anything to have her back. As the years past, it changed. She would tell Rachel that she was a coward for dumping her when they clearly loved each other and it was the biggest mistake she'd ever make. But now…now she was -

"Fine," she breathed with a small smile of realization, "I'm fine. I'm happy."

And with those words, she broke Rachel's heart. Just like everyone expected her to all along.


End file.
